RSST-Mobile Ships First Windows Mobile 6 Phone
By Ed Oswald | Published May 22, 2007, 1:40 PM
T-Mobile said Tuesday it had launched the Wing, the successor to its MDA smartphone and the first handset in the United States to ship with Windows Mobile 6 installed.
The carrier was also the first to offer an upgrade for Windows Mobile 5 users with a T-Mobile Dash, and it said phones with the new OS installed would appear next month.
The Wing offers many improvements over the MDA, most noticeably a slimmer form factor. In additional, the phone also includes a new keyboard design and longer battery life, along with a 2.0-megapixel camera.
Like its predecessor, the Wing features Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, with the option to use the device at any of T-Mobile's 8,000 HotSpot locations. It also includes support for all four major instant messaging services, including AOL, Windows Live, ICQ, and Yahoo.
Both Microsoft and T-Mobile hope the release of the device, which costs $299 USD with a two-year contract -- some $200 cheaper than the initial price of the MDA when it was first launched -- will help smartphones catch on with a broader market segment.
"The HTC-designed T-Mobile Wing is a versatile, user-friendly smartphone that will appeal to a wide range of consumers," HTC America vice president Todd Achilles said in a statement.
Microsoft released Windows Mobile 6 in February, but devices have been slow to make it to the States. This is likely due to the fact that smartphones have generally seen higher sales in markets in Europe and Asia than in North America.
Other enhancements provided by Windows Mobile 6 include improved security and easier syncing procedures. T-Mobile has also added support for its myFaves service.
The phone is available immediately from the company's Web site and retail stores, T-Mobile said.
Is there going to be a general upgrade to WM6 for smartphones? I've got a Lobster 700TV on Virgin, who sadly have what they call "award winning" customer service, which means they can't deal with anything technical like a software upgrade...
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|...and an old iPaq PDA that has WM5 on it...
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|No. No phone will be "upgradeable" to WM6. They all either come with WM5 or with WM6, and the model numbers will differ even if the phone looks/works similar.
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|Saying no phone is upgradeable is completely wrong. I upgraded my T-Mobile Dash nearly 3 weeks ago. The first sentence of this article should have given you a clue - but you remain clueless.
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|WM6 seems awesome, wish Cingular would upgrade their 8525 phones.
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|They released an update a little bit ago...
http://www.america.htc.c...software-downloads.html
The download link is at the bottom. Be sure to backup your data as installing this update will wipe out your phone.
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|Anyone know if there is an update for the Treo 750 - Cingular/At&t?
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|Yes. It was announced 3 days after your post.
http://www.intomobile.co...r-cingularatt-customers/
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|Hopefully they fix:
- Mobile 5 devices and it's really strange bugs like suddenly losing appointment notifications (needs hard reset to fix)
- Backlight just stopping working (again, hard reset)
- Timezone/automatic update issues (probably network specific, but still annoying)
And where you get support from! Right now it's a fight between 3rd party apps, the network provider, the hardware provider, and Microsoft. I've easily been passed between all four for Mobile support. Increasingly annoying!
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|Support should always come from your provider. You pay your bill to them. They buy the hardware, they buy the OS, and they customize to fit their needs and network.
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|You've never dealt with Verizon support then have you? If the issue is with activesync/palmOS etc, they forward you directly to Palm.
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